Hired by Google as L4 but rejected by top colleges
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Anonymous
Agree with the bolded. He could have had a perfect application, having zero faults or criticism, but because he is Asian male (and also, if he would have been a white male), there are only so many slots for them in the STEM programs. If the college already had those slots filled, he is not getting admitted, like it or not. That is why people call the current application climate a "lottery", for good reason. |
Anonymous
This is an important point that most parents also do not realize. |
Anonymous
Yeah. If 18 people got into UC Berkeley and one got into MIT and it wasn’t him, something is up with his apps or teacher recs. If he is truly as incredible as you want him to be, the counselor letter would say that. This is a school where the top schools you mention take kids from his school. The counselors know the reps. |
Anonymous
Do we know if the 18+1 were Asian and or white?? If so, how many?? |
Anonymous
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There are many factors which got nothing to do with being academically accomplished, like race, geography, large competitive suburban schools, recommendation letters, essays, interviews, stereotyping etc etc. Ut sucks and disappoints nonetheless.
That being said, have some friends in tech circles, whose kids got great internships and jobs through connections. They are good enough to work there but academic record isn't good enough to get hired by top companies. They are good looking and social so probably that helped but not technical wonders by any means. |
Anonymous
Honestly sounds like he doesn’t need college at all and I bet that was a factor. Why admit the guy who is definitely going to drop out year two to run his unicorn startup when you can give the seat and financial aid to someone who actually needs the education? I’m sure the professors would be thrilled to have him in class as well when he already knows more than them and has superior accomplishments. It’s a rational admissions decision, candidate is overqualified. Grades and test scores are irrelevant, candidate is performing as a superior working professional in the field already; put him in the file for faculty hire instead. |
Anonymous
Sounds like he got dinged on personality factors. If he wanted to attend an elite university, he should have tried being less Asian. |
Anonymous
Because those drop outs bring the university prestige and often end up donating large amounts of money. If I ran an admissions office, I'd take 100 of those kids before I took any kid who needed massive aid and planed to major in classics or gender studies |
Anonymous
You don't think he could learn anything from research professors at Berkley or CalTech or MIT? |
Anonymous
This is a textbook pointy applicant. “He’s only good at computers” Uh, yeah, so was Steve Wozniak. |
Anonymous
Yup -- rich, connected, smart kids with likely an overrepresentation in computer science applicants because their parents all work in tech. The school sent over 100 students to just Stanford and Berkeley over the last 4 years. No doubt a lot of legacies as well as just some stellar candidates. There is likely some flukiness to this as well -- probably some combination of schools yield protecting AND having too many highly qualified candidates from the same school. The Ivies, for instance, are a total crapshoot for a candidate like this from a school like this. It's not like they are hurting for CS applicants, and if they get 30 applications from this high school and one of them is interested in majoring in History and plays the oboe, that student will likely standout (assuming excellent test scores and GPA as well). Or you might just have a legacy or two and then that's it because an Ivy isn't going to take 10 kids from one high school in California. Meanwhile a lot of the state flagships likely viewed him as unlikely to attend based on his background and industry connections. And honestly, were the wrong? If he got into Harvard and Michigan, where would he go? It's hard to get super worked up about a kid like this. He's fine, he'll be fine. He got into two good schools, he's got massive industry connections, he's clearly very smart and talented and hard working. Does he need an elite school to help pave the way for an elite career? Nope. And they have plenty of other very qualified students applying who will likely get more out of their time there and for whom that degree could transport them to another life. It don't know what I'm supposed to be worked up about. I also bet you that all those schools that rejected him admitted a large percentage of Asian kids, just FYI. |
Anonymous
+1 Plus it just shows that this is all a big crap shoot. |
Anonymous
I'm guessing this kid wrote something just like that - denigrating the classics and/or gender studies in their Common App essay(s). And then had the applications tossed. Nothing else really explains the outcome except some kind of egregious self-inflicted injury. The "Asian" argument doesn't hold up that well because other Asian kids with less going for them got into all these places. |
Anonymous
Yes - but those Asian admits likely were either admitted before Zhang was denied, or those applicants offered something different than what Zhang was offering - it is not always because the application had a deficit. Not every stellar Asian (or white) applicant can be admitted, especially if they are male. Every week, there is a post about this very topic on DCUM. |
Anonymous
PP here. Yeah, and he will learn from them in professional collaborations working at Google on real projects. He can co-author papers with them all he wants. I’m sure Google will pay for or provide any training he wants. They can get anyone at Stanford or Berkeley they want to come over to the Googleplex and hang out. The people at Google at high levels are as good or better as faculty at any of these schools. Why does he need college? He doesn’t need the credential, he already got the great job. L4 salary is in the low to mid 200’s. He’s 18. He has the skills. He has the practical experience. The part he’s missing is making friends and having a youth, I doubt there are a lot of peers at work for him to socialize with. |